The last few days have played host to some pretty stormy weather. Just yesterday we had a tornado go through just south of us in a little town called Lancaster. Our Governor visited the area and expressed quite the dismay at the loss of farm buildings and livestock.

Mr. Flanagan and myself did not escape the mess; of course the high winds put a few trees down on the drive, tossed some things out and about in the yard, and it knocked out our power for about 15 hours. We took it in stride and made due using what we had to make it through the day without electricity. One thing I noticed about the two of us is that years and years of re-enacting seasoned us to the point that we had no qualms about pumping for water or using the great outdoors for a bathroom! We had plenty to eat...I just dug out our camp stove and set to work heating up dinner whilst Mr. Flanagan dug out all the oil and candle lamps. It was a bit fun deciding what we wanted to do with yet another night without electricity.

Then reality sets in. You start thinking to yourself..."hmmm that sky still looks pretty volatile", and "gee I wonder if there is damage around here?" I got to thinking about all the food in my freezer and how slim the pocket book is this month. I was a bit concerned that the food would defrost and be rendered "no good" for eating, and honestly...we cannot afford to replace what is in the freezer right now. At least it wasn't the dead of winter so we did not have to figure out a way to keep warm, "but" I thought to myself, "what if it were in the dead of winter, how would we keep warm?"

It is fantastically amazing to me that our ancestors made it through these same types of storms, and they did it without all the modern things we use today. If we wanted to see if that sky was going to drop another storm or tornado...all we had to do was query it on my cell phone. If we wanted a bit of water for the horses, all we had to do was open up the deep well water pump located in the back of the barn yard. If we wanted to eat, all we had to do was hook up the propane to the camp stove and grab some food out of the still cold refrigerator. Lamp oil and tons of candles, along with flashlights illuminated the scary and dark night with no problem, and a versatile converter charged my cell phone (which is complete with all the weather and news information at the touch of a finger.), and as a bonus it changes battery power into AC power if needed. How on earth did our ancestors do it? I guess they just looked at the sky, held a finger in the air, and guessed?

Yes..sitting in candle and oil lit rooms was kind of neat for a bit, but I much prefer having electricity at my fingertips when needed. While I believe Mr. Flanagan and I would do just fine without it, and we would adapt to not having it, I much prefer not to live without power. Living in the past is fun for a day or two...I would rather reside in the present for now!